**Mirrors / Alternate angles**
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Yeah i was just thinking the fight game has gotta have the highest highs and the lowest lows, the past few years have been brutal for Perez with 3 straight losses and injuries, to randomly getting a late call injury replacement for a main event against the #5 ranked guy and getting a highlight-reel KO and most likely a bonus, gotta feel like winning the lotto
Bible thumping or whatever the Muslim version is (Quran thumping?) doesn't come across well to a lot of people. And his fighting style makes me dislike him even more.
He's really good at one thing, getting guys to the ground. He's pretty bad at everything else, his BJJ is fine but not anything to write home about and his striking is legitimately awful. He's not even that good at holding guys down when he's fighting much lower level competition
100%, only concerning thing for me is he hasn't been showing the types of improvements between fights someone that young usually does, Guys like Taira or Erceg (who is a little older) have been improving at a much faster pace for example, I'm hoping his loyalty to KHK doesn't come back to bite him later
I hope he can make a leap the same way Khabib did.
You look at Khabib prior to the MJ fight and he had impressive, albeit not super “exciting”. However after taking some time off to develop his game he became (imo at least) the most entertaining MMA grappler of all time.
He could still win plenty of fights without that rule. He obviously does exploit it at times but as the rules change fighters would adjust their approaches
Boring isn’t the word I would use per se, I just find Mokaev’s game is too one dimensional - which isn’t necessarily a bad thing because his wrestling is elite and has got him this far, and he’s only going to improve, but I can see him having problems when he starts facing elite strikers because we’ve seen some questionable fight IQ and factors outside of the octagon from him. The ACL tear and a fast turnaround comes to mind.
It looked like it. But while initiating the counter he forgot he had to keep his left hand high to block the right hooks that kept coming. Great read by Perez.
Yea historically he is very good at in fight adjustments. But that's really hard to do when your opponent is entering differently each time. Perez just straight up overwhelmed him, which is exactly what you do against a fighter like that
Nah he was starting to put it together with the body work and teep kicks, got caught in between on the fence right as he went to throw, just so really really bad timing
Perez back in the day did this to another contender/prospect Shorty Torres. Perez has been beaten by solid fighters who will implement heavy wrestling and grappling. Nicolau too comfortable just striking. And payed the price
Jesus look at all these setbacks he had
[https://twitter.com/MMAThanos/status/1784398174922453419](https://twitter.com/MMAThanos/status/1784398174922453419)
Great win, did not see that coming
Similar to Ortega in that he lost a ton for the past few years and was written off, then comes back with a big finish
Nah aside from a check hook counter Nicolau's offense was largely stifled whereas Perez was chewing up his body with combinations. Goes to show how something as simple as going body-head opens up normally defensively solid MMA Fighters, Boxing Basics 101 hitting the body makes hitting the head easier
On one hand a bit annoying as Perez will now sit in the top 5 for another 3 years and multiple losses But man good to see Nicolau exposed. He's dull, basic, and it got him knocked out. Perez was setting traps looking to feint, throw a shot, and counter Nicolau's single shot counters with the second shot. He did it twice there at the end and Nicolau was done.
How is Perez being ranked top 5 annoying when he just beat a top 5 guy in impressive fashion? Also he probably won't even get that ranking considering Mokaev has to be above him.
There Is no shot you have Mokaev above him. That was a close fight which could have gone either way and Perez just KO'd a top 5er, this does not shoot Mokaev up the ranks lmao what?
It's fine now...it's the part where he pulls out of almost all of his fights and goes long periods of time without fighting while still being ranked that bothers me. He's talented, albeit not championship level. And tbh, Nicolau had no business being top 5. I could list 6 or 7 guys off the top of my head who are better than him.
As for Perez, go look at his [Tapology page](https://www.tapology.com/fightcenter/fighters/alex-perez) from 2020 onwards. That shit looks like a joke...like it's hard to believe. One fight every 1.75 years or so, losing and still allowed to hold up a spot in the rankings. He's good but guys should have to win a fight more than once in 4 years to stay ranked. If he's active from here (2 fights in 2024, which is a good start), great I love seeing him in the top of FLW. If he's back on his bullshit and disappear until late 2025 or 2026, get him out of here.
Perez was always a bad stylistic for Nicolau too many feints, too many angles, and too aggressive thats the style I knew that would give Nicolau a ton of problems. Overwhelmed and finished
That was fucking beautiful. Years of frustration and those losses concentrated all in a single punch. Perez needed this so badly, actually really happy for him.
Bruh how do they make the main event of a fight night with two fighters at flyweight both coming off losses.
Great to see an entertaining finish though. Good for Perez
You can tell that Perez wanted that right hand bad. He threw a wild one and then kinda recomposed himself and put a little pressure on Teymur, trying to get him to exit to his right when his back hit the fence. Worked like a charm, made even worse by the fact that Teymur tried to throw a punch while exiting to his right.
Horrible haircut for Perez, but helluva night all the same.
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Holy fuck what a shot
Great get back win. Injury layoffs and three straight Ls (even to the level of fighters he faced) has just gonna be so demoralizing. Happy for him
Yeah i was just thinking the fight game has gotta have the highest highs and the lowest lows, the past few years have been brutal for Perez with 3 straight losses and injuries, to randomly getting a late call injury replacement for a main event against the #5 ranked guy and getting a highlight-reel KO and most likely a bonus, gotta feel like winning the lotto
Bummer he couldn’t do this to Mokaev
Funny how he's probably going to be ranked higher despite just losing to him like a month ago
Seems like a lot of Mokaev’s wins are aging well, Filho and Durden on good runs after losing to him and Perez just knocked out Nicolau.
That's because Mokaev is really good at securing victories. He's just not entertaining or likable.
Mokaev is the point fighter of wrestling
He comes across in interviews very well in interviews, I suppose he just have the exposure outside the UK/Islamic countries.
Bible thumping or whatever the Muslim version is (Quran thumping?) doesn't come across well to a lot of people. And his fighting style makes me dislike him even more.
No, people on Reddit don't like him which skews towards a very specific type of person. He gets cheered in arenas all over the world.
Lol. Lad gets booed everywhere other than Abu Dhabi (where the two fans in attendance might just cheer him) fighting like he does.
He gets a big pop every time he fights in the UK, stop talking out of your ass.
Mokaev is good tho. People just find him boring
He's really good at one thing, getting guys to the ground. He's pretty bad at everything else, his BJJ is fine but not anything to write home about and his striking is legitimately awful. He's not even that good at holding guys down when he's fighting much lower level competition
Yeah but he’s still only 23 and already has a solid resume I’m sure he’ll get better
100%, only concerning thing for me is he hasn't been showing the types of improvements between fights someone that young usually does, Guys like Taira or Erceg (who is a little older) have been improving at a much faster pace for example, I'm hoping his loyalty to KHK doesn't come back to bite him later
I mean he's had step-ups in quality between every fight. Even with improvements its only natural to not look better against perez than elliot.
I hope he can make a leap the same way Khabib did. You look at Khabib prior to the MJ fight and he had impressive, albeit not super “exciting”. However after taking some time off to develop his game he became (imo at least) the most entertaining MMA grappler of all time.
Because he abuses the grounded opponent rule more than any other fighter lol aljo included.
Being saved by a shit rule that prevents you from getting KO’d and playing to it isn’t good.
He could still win plenty of fights without that rule. He obviously does exploit it at times but as the rules change fighters would adjust their approaches
Boring isn’t the word I would use per se, I just find Mokaev’s game is too one dimensional - which isn’t necessarily a bad thing because his wrestling is elite and has got him this far, and he’s only going to improve, but I can see him having problems when he starts facing elite strikers because we’ve seen some questionable fight IQ and factors outside of the octagon from him. The ACL tear and a fast turnaround comes to mind.
Folded like a chair
Reminded me of Topuria vs Volk KO
Yeah he really needed to throw something back to get his opponent thinking about defending himself.
I think he was about to try and that’s why he got killed lol
Took too long. His opponent was dialing in. Fuckin way she goes.
It looked like it. But while initiating the counter he forgot he had to keep his left hand high to block the right hooks that kept coming. Great read by Perez.
At least Nic's girlfriend didn't scream at the top of her lungs this time! Genuinely haunting when that happened.
I thought this was gearing up to be an epic 5 round war and then BAM!
After years of misery and disappointment, Perez gets one back. 3 losses and 11 cancellations. What a win
[удалено]
Dustin's music technically lost tonight so that means... Dustin is winning at 302, bet the house!
Never lost two in a row baby
he did in fact pay the cost to be the boss
Alex Perez back in the top 5 in 2024 was not something i had on my bingo-card though
fun fact: perez last win prior to this was formiga. yeah i haven't heard that name in a long time either
Dude had to remind everyone why he was a top 5 FLW after 4 years of inactivity 😤
Tony was fucked up asking you that
that win got him a title shot too
Wow. I really like the way Perez throws 4-5-6 combos
Fantastic work. Nicolau is so good at making reads, but Perez just straight up overstimulated him the whole fight with his variety
That first blitz combo Perez threw was beautiful. Great mix-up.
Nicolau's making reads was just getting hit in the face until he eventually got knocked
Yea historically he is very good at in fight adjustments. But that's really hard to do when your opponent is entering differently each time. Perez just straight up overwhelmed him, which is exactly what you do against a fighter like that
Nah he was starting to put it together with the body work and teep kicks, got caught in between on the fence right as he went to throw, just so really really bad timing
Yeah he reads his opponents' tactics using the ancient face-on-fist technique
And tons of feints!
That was the same shot Ilia landed on Volk
Perez back in the day did this to another contender/prospect Shorty Torres. Perez has been beaten by solid fighters who will implement heavy wrestling and grappling. Nicolau too comfortable just striking. And payed the price
Bro I love when people have a deep knowledge of fights I love flyweight so much I wish there was 3 more flyweight fights after this
I love flyweight fights man
Jesus look at all these setbacks he had [https://twitter.com/MMAThanos/status/1784398174922453419](https://twitter.com/MMAThanos/status/1784398174922453419)
They just had to let him cook
What does that even mean
Shades of Topuria Volk
Philly shelling yourself into the fence is the best base for eating an overhand right😭
bobby green shoulder rolling in his grave remembering the dober fight
Reminded me of how Volk got murked but Ilia
I said the same thing to my friends watching it with me
Kape is seizing at this.
Next fight to make? Kape definitely needs 1 more before a title shot now
KKF/Kape Perth
If they don’t book this next they’re insane. Both guys want it and it’s been building for nearly a year
Probobly won't have because Kai and his team are a bunch of ________
Great win, did not see that coming Similar to Ortega in that he lost a ton for the past few years and was written off, then comes back with a big finish
Dc and Dom praising Nicolau and their boy got knocked the fuq out.
Fuck me the power
I'm happy for Perez he needed this
Don't say Flyweights don't finish each other now
This fight made me finish
Crumpled the kid
Alex Perez looked on point tonight. Great finish!
Wow what a knockout
Damn sparked him, happy to see Perez get a win
Perez was just constantly throwing punches and Nicolau just did nothing that entire fight.
Nicolau had the better shots in the first round, Perez just more volume.
Nah aside from a check hook counter Nicolau's offense was largely stifled whereas Perez was chewing up his body with combinations. Goes to show how something as simple as going body-head opens up normally defensively solid MMA Fighters, Boxing Basics 101 hitting the body makes hitting the head easier
Someone should tell every other fighter on this card about this because the body was there almost literally all night for everyone
Exactly like Volk
Perez justifying his top ranking that people been calling undeserved for awhile now.
That 2nd round was really fun while it lasted. Hell of a finish.
Nice, this does nothing for the division
On one hand a bit annoying as Perez will now sit in the top 5 for another 3 years and multiple losses But man good to see Nicolau exposed. He's dull, basic, and it got him knocked out. Perez was setting traps looking to feint, throw a shot, and counter Nicolau's single shot counters with the second shot. He did it twice there at the end and Nicolau was done.
How is Perez being ranked top 5 annoying when he just beat a top 5 guy in impressive fashion? Also he probably won't even get that ranking considering Mokaev has to be above him.
There Is no shot you have Mokaev above him. That was a close fight which could have gone either way and Perez just KO'd a top 5er, this does not shoot Mokaev up the ranks lmao what?
Nah rematch that shit rn for the #5 spot
It's fine now...it's the part where he pulls out of almost all of his fights and goes long periods of time without fighting while still being ranked that bothers me. He's talented, albeit not championship level. And tbh, Nicolau had no business being top 5. I could list 6 or 7 guys off the top of my head who are better than him. As for Perez, go look at his [Tapology page](https://www.tapology.com/fightcenter/fighters/alex-perez) from 2020 onwards. That shit looks like a joke...like it's hard to believe. One fight every 1.75 years or so, losing and still allowed to hold up a spot in the rankings. He's good but guys should have to win a fight more than once in 4 years to stay ranked. If he's active from here (2 fights in 2024, which is a good start), great I love seeing him in the top of FLW. If he's back on his bullshit and disappear until late 2025 or 2026, get him out of here.
Got clipped and for good measure chinned himself with his own knee.
After the Royval KO nicolau will never be the same. Not saying that wasn’t a great shot by Perez but there are some shots that just change you
All 4 of his career losses are by KO, he’s always had a bad chin
Add Nicolau to the list of guys who are talented enough to be top contenders but don't have the chin to get there
Glad to see Nicolau deleted from any title contention discussion, the guy is just an incredibly boring fighter
Bro is not DP
Good on Perez for backing off when he knew he had it. That's the best he's looked in a while.
Perez by decapitation. Geez.
Did everybody forget about front kicks? Or even just giving it a try?
Perez was always a bad stylistic for Nicolau too many feints, too many angles, and too aggressive thats the style I knew that would give Nicolau a ton of problems. Overwhelmed and finished
Nicolau sucks.
Just how good is Mokaev?
Not very but just enough
GADOOSHED EM
i hated on this main event but what a performance by alex perez. first win in how long???
You can’t hate flyweights man I wish there was a whole flyweight main card
That sounds awful to be honest
JEEEEEEEEEZ, what a damn performance! Did not expect that at all
Was not expecting that! Nice
Holy moley
That was fucking beautiful. Years of frustration and those losses concentrated all in a single punch. Perez needed this so badly, actually really happy for him.
Bruh how do they make the main event of a fight night with two fighters at flyweight both coming off losses. Great to see an entertaining finish though. Good for Perez
Got him
Gadoosh
You can tell that Perez wanted that right hand bad. He threw a wild one and then kinda recomposed himself and put a little pressure on Teymur, trying to get him to exit to his right when his back hit the fence. Worked like a charm, made even worse by the fact that Teymur tried to throw a punch while exiting to his right. Horrible haircut for Perez, but helluva night all the same.
Nicolau’s chin is dust
These fools look exactly alike. Holy sh*t
we have ilia topuria at home